Katie Holmes ‘shocked’ by ‘The Kennedys’ ax

Katie Holmes was “shocked” when bosses at The History Channel axed her “The Kennedys” miniseries from the network and she deliberately “stayed out” of the subsequent dispute over the project.

The actress plays Jackie Kennedy in the show opposite Greg Kinnear as her onscreen husband, assassinated U.S. President John F. Kennedy.

The series hit headlines back in January when TV bosses scrapped “The Kennedys” from their broadcast schedule, citing it as “not a fit for the History brand.”

Subsequent reports suggested it was cut following pressure from surviving members of the clan, including Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who branded the show “historically inaccurate,” adding, “It was created by a group of people who had an extreme and ingrained hostility towards my family and that they, you know, they twisted history.”

Kinnear came forward to defend the show, but Holmes remained silent over the debate and she has now revealed she was stunned when she heard the series had been dropped.

She tells “Access Hollywood,” “When I heard about The History Channel not airing this, I was as shocked as everybody else. I didn’t realize that was coming. I kind of just stayed out of it. I had a wonderful time doing this job and playing the character and, you know, it’s up to the producers after that…”

And Holmes is adamant the project was not meant to offend any Kennedy family members, adding, “We wanted to treat it as respectfully as possible and that’s how we felt about this whole series. We really wanted to honor these people and do the best work that we could.”

Bosses at ReelzChannel snapped up the show. The eight-part series will air from April 3.